Dili: A US Navy and Marine taskforce left East Timor at the weekend
after a four-day humanitarian operation, as Australian peacekeepers
exchanged fire with pro-Indonesia militia near the western border town of
Maliana.

The US operation saw helicopter gunships flying close to the Indonesian
border to escort a cargo-carrying helicopter delivering humanitarian aid
to the remote south-west border hamlet of Lactos.

The warship visit was mainly to help with humanitarian aid and the
reconstruction of East Timor, but it came amid stern warnings from
Washington about Indonesia's continuing failure to take control of
pro-Jakarta paramilitary gangs responsible for the recent murder of three
UN staff in West Timor.

An Australian patrol operating in rugged hill country near Marko, 12
kilometres north of Maliana, was involved in an exchange of fire with at
least two armed militia on Saturday, said UN spokesman Captain Mick Tafe.

In a telephone interview from Suai, Captain Tafe said no peacekeepers
were hurt during the brief exchange and an absence of "blood
trails" made it unlikely any militia were wounded.

About 700 of the more than 4,000 sailors and Marines involved in the US
visit came ashore to help with the distribution of hundreds of tonnes of
building material, land clearing and building renovation and the provision
of health and dental treatment to the East Timorese.

Apart from aid, security concerns linked to recent militia violence
figured prominently in the deployment, the biggest to East Timor by the US
military.

Speaking on board the 40,000-tonne flagship, USS Tarawa, US taskforce
commander, Captain Allan Wall, said more visits by US warships to support
humanitarian operations in East Timor were likely.

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